


This Awkward Exchange

by SocialDegenerate



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meeting the Parents, Secret Relationship, getting caught
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 05:04:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14687070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDegenerate/pseuds/SocialDegenerate
Summary: Ignis isn't quite as stealthy as he thinks he is- especially in a house full of trained bodyguards.That morning, though, as Ignis slipped past the door he nearly tripped over his own feet when he heard his name being called.





	This Awkward Exchange

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Этот неловкий разговор](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18249446) by [utawara (tigriya)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriya/pseuds/utawara)



> It's been a while lmao. For anyone not up with my life, in the past month I've moved twice and started law school so writing has been a low priority, and I have no fucking idea what my writing schedule is going to look like from here on in.
> 
> Anyway, I totally ripped the idea for this story from something that happened to a friend of a friend of a friend; I just thought it would be a cute Gladnis idea because I love it when Ignis interacts with the other Amicitias.

“Don’t go,” Gladio murmured sleepily when Ignis slipped out of his arms, the morning sun just barely starting to come through the gap in the curtains. There was enough light in the room to let Ignis see Gladio’s naked body, only his legs covered by the rumpled sheets, and it felt like it took a superhuman effort for Ignis to not get right back into bed.

“I have to,” Ignis said. Running a hand down Gladio’s naked back, over the lines of his finally finished tattoo, Ignis leaned in to kiss Gladio’s cheek.

“Come back tonight?” Gladio said, his voice getting an edge of a whine, and it was cute enough that Ignis knew he would scale the side of the house if he had to. Of course, it would have been easier if they could just _tell_ Gladio’s family that they were together, but the timing hadn’t been right.

Some days it felt like a bad excuse, but Ignis wasn’t going to push for anything that made Gladio uncomfortable. 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I really do have to go now, though.” Leaning in for another kiss, Gladio turning to meet this one with his own lips, Ignis eventually managed to pull away and quickly get dressed. He didn’t let himself look back at Gladio until he was at the door, by which point Gladio had fallen asleep again, his mouth hanging open attractively.

...or not so much. But Ignis loved him anyway.

“Have a good day, my love,” Ignis whispered as he slipped out, his shoes in his hand to keep his footsteps quiet. Iris wasn’t too much of a hassle, Ignis aware that she slept much deeper than Gladio ever did; he passed her room without issue and made it down the stairs.

Jared tended to be more difficult to avoid and Ignis was sure that he’d been caught more than once over the years, but he was also discreet enough to now mention it. Of course, that had been when Ignis was younger and less trained than he’d later become, and Ignis prided himself on his stealth abilities.

Glancing into the kitchen, Ignis noticed that the lights were on but it seemed to be empty; keeping a careful eye out, he kept to the darker side of the hallway and crept past the open door. He could see the side entrance of the house in front of him, the one he usually went out in the mornings, and he would later admit that he got sloppy.

There was never _anyone_ in the small dining room off the kitchen, considering that the Amicitias tended to eat in every room _except_ their various dining rooms if they managed to leave the kitchen. That morning, though, as Ignis slipped past the door he nearly tripped over his own feet when he heard his name being called.

Glancing at the side entrance and wondering if it would be smarter to just  _ run,  _ Ignis swallowed hard and backed up, sticking his head back through the dining room doorway. “Good morning.”

“I thought that was you,” Clarus Amicitia said, barely glancing up from his newspaper. “How are you?”

“Um,” Ignis said. He felt like he tended to spend more time in the Amicitia house than Clarus did, the man forever spending his days and nights working at the Citadel, and he certainly hadn’t been prepared to have his boyfriend’s dad catch him leaving the house.

“Obviously it’s still a little early for you,” Clarus laughed, turning the page. “Toast?”

Blinking stupidly, wondering if Clarus sounded mad or annoyed or like he was about to stab Ignis in the throat, Ignis tried to find his manners. “Excuse me?”

“Toast. Would you like some?” Holding up his own piece, Clarus took a bite.

“I...sure,” Ignis conceded. It was only polite, and he _was_ hungry. 

“I’m sure you know where everything is.” Clarus turned another page, and Ignis slowly walked into the room and set his bag and shoes down beside the seat across from Clarus’. He did in fact know where everything was, and he couldn’t delay for too long until he was sitting with Clarus, toast and coffee on the table in front of him.

“How’s Noctis?” Clarus asked, as if they were two friends catching up and Clarus _hadn’t_ caught Ignis mid-walk of shame. Not that Ignis was ashamed of what he had with Gladio, but it certainly hadn’t been ideal to be busted.

“He’s good,” Ignis said, choking down a mouthful of coffee before he could even consider starting on the toast. “Not studying quite as hard as I’d like, but he’s still near the top of his class so I can’t complain too much.”

“That sounds familiar. I remember Weskham having similar complaints, although that was more about king shit than schoolwork.” Hearing the King’s Shield refer to royal duties as “king shit” surprised a laugh out of Ignis, even if it was something he’d heard out of Gladio’s mouth more than once. But out of his usual formal outfits, Clarus looked like a normal dad rather than the head of the second most important noble family in all of Lucis.

It was hard to reconcile the two, and so Ignis focused his attention on his toast for a while. He was at least able to keep up a decent amount of small talk as they ate, both of them avoiding any of the heavy issues their jobs forced them to deal with, and although Ignis was nervous he felt better than he might have otherwise guessed.

Still, there was a simmering tension between them, and Ignis couldn’t let it go on for too long.

Fiddling with his plate, Ignis opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally managed to voice the question that had been bothering him since Clarus had caught him. “You’re not...you’re not  _ mad,  _ are you?”

“At you?” Clarus said, sounding faintly surprised. “Well, there aren’t too many reasons why you would be here this early, so as long as you didn’t spend the night with my twelve year old daughter, it seems to me that everyone involved is a consenting adult who can make their own choices.”

“Oh,” was all Ignis could say, his heart rate slowly dropping back down from the anxious pounding that had been shaking his chest. 

“It’s not like I wasn’t expecting it to happen. Neither of my children are particularly good at hiding their crushes.” Clarus’ attention went back to his paper and Ignis took a few deep breaths, clasping his hands together to stop them from shaking.

The sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs made them both lift their heads, Clarus meeting Ignis’ eyes with a roll of his own. “I wonder who _that_ could be.”

Gladio obviously hadn’t been expecting to see anyone in the dining room either, and Ignis listened to the various bangs coming from the attached kitchen. After a particularly loud crash followed by a sleepy swear, Clarus smiled in a way that was somehow exasperated and fond all at once.

“Good morning, darling son of mine.”

“Fuck,” Gladio said quietly, followed by a louder, “Hey, dad.”

“Come here for a moment.”

“Sounds ominous,” Gladio laughed, but the smile on his face when he walked through the door dropped the moment he saw Ignis sitting there with his father, both of them with plates of toast and cups of coffee.

“Nope,” Gladio declared, holding up his hands and backing away. “No way, not doing this.”

“We’re bonding,” Clarus said. Gladio flipped him off and disappeared, making Ignis scared for a split second, but Clarus’ hearty laugh helped his tension bleed away. “Children are so ungrateful sometimes. Don’t know who raised that one to be such a little shit.”

Finishing the last bite of his toast and draining his cup, Clarus turned his attention back to Ignis. “If you’re going to be at the 9am meeting, do you want a ride into the Citadel?”

As good of a breakfast companion as Clarus had turned out to be, Ignis didn’t think he could handle a peak-hour ride trapped with his boyfriend’s dad. Politely declining, he finished his own meal and took both sets of dishes into the kitchen, ignoring Clarus’ protests and placing them in the dishwasher.

“It’s been lovely, but I do have to get home before work. I’ll see you in the meeting,” Ignis said, collecting his bag and shoes from the dining room. 

“You should come by for dinner sometime, I know Iris would love to see you,” Clarus said, standing up and reaching out to shake Ignis’ hand. “And for Bahamut’s sake, use the front door next time.”

Stammering, Ignis practically fled from the room as Clarus laughed, sounding exactly like Gladio did at times. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to facing Clarus in the meeting room, especially as he would be there in his full robes rather than track pants and a worn T-shirt, but he supposed there was no getting around that. It was his own fault for letting his guard down, after all.

Leaving the house- through the side entrance he’d originally been aiming for- Ignis didn’t get to catch his breath until he was sitting on the train, pulling his phone from his bag and checking the messages that had come through in the meantime. He wasn’t surprised to see several messages from Gladio, full of capitals that made the texts read as big and loud as Gladio tended to be.

> _ IGNIS _
> 
> _ IGNIS WHAT THE FUCK _
> 
> _ WHAT WAS THAT _

His shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh out loud, Ignis grinned at his phone, glad that he wasn’t the only one who had been hit with stress so early in the morning. Taking a moment to come up with a good retort, Ignis could practically imagine Gladio’s reaction as he read the replies that Ignis sent him.

> _ He offered me toast. _
> 
> _ I was hungry. _

The incoherent keysmash that Ignis got back put a smile on his face that didn’t fade until Ignis was in his own shower, and then it was replaced by a very different expression as he let himself go through a _very_ thorough re-enactment of the night before.

After the morning he’d had, he figured he deserved it.

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [Tumblr](http://socialdegenerate.tumblr.com) or [Twitter](http://twitter.com/socialdegener8)


End file.
